Quitting the games industry

Can't help to feel similar to this guy, although a creative, well past 6 years and I'm just over project after project making the same mistakes again and again. The reason usually being as one project fails to hit expectations, people move on or are 're-placed' and the studio never seems to learn from the mistakes of predecessors.

A underlying culture of dissolution slowly creeps in and a distaste for the industry develops in yourself and your family who are sick of the hours or the instability. Watching new kids come in, thankful for their chance to prove themselves and willing to do it all over again for the first time and get taken advantage of just makes me wonder if it will ever change.

I was a programmer in the Australian industry for nearly five years. It was fun but it became obvious after a while that it isn't a sustainable career when considering my other life goals of paying off a mortgage, having a family and providing stability for them.

After doing a few cycles of putting in immense effort for many months to ship a product that is largely forgotten in a few weeks, the whole thing seemed more and more pointless.

I now work in the financial sector for more money, with fewer hours and a notable increase in the professionalism of my colleagues and management. I don't play video games at all any more. Life is good.

At least you guys can make the jump to something different. What's a game artist's or designer meant to do, other than to make sandwiches?

Yeah I had a similar experience a few years ago.

I had my girlfriend leave and tell me to call her when I got a better job\life. I went to the doctor complaining of pins and needles in my left arm (at 25) and he told me to stop drinking 9 cups of coffee to get me through the day and to get a better job. I even had my mother ring me to ask why I was missing my own birthday party to work on a milestone, saying "what are you a doctor or something? I thought you just made games."

All for just above minimum wage.

Surprisingly I didn't quit but was fired for losing my mojo at work (after rolling milestones had me working 7 days a week, 10+ hours a day for 8 months sustained).

Losing that job was the best thing that ever happened to me.

I couldn't face the idea of even playing a game for about 12 months after that. Slowly I started playing and eventually making games again; rediscovering my passion.

When you give it time and remember what made you excited about making games in the first place, you can rediscover the joy of the craft.

I found this to be a very interesting article because for me (a graduate), it's become more and more apparent that I have little desire to enter the games industry anymore. It was my dream since the middle of high school to break into the industry and make some really cool games so when I graduated, I waited a while to enter a games specific University and started in 2008.

I graduated at the end of last year and have since tried to break into the industry. I had some success by having a short stint (unpaid / part-time) at a studio earlier in the year but it didn't lead anywhere significant. Since then I've worked on my own (game-oriented) projects and tried doing some indie game development, but found I increasingly had to fight to stay motivated (something that never happened in uni).

In this time, I started teaching myself new technologies and got fit again. I really enjoyed doing this, I got a thrill from learning things I was never exposed to and am happy being as fit as I am. Also, I've found I now have more interest in traditional software development and that's where I will be headed.

It's been a bit sad to give up on my dream, but ultimately, I don't think I will regret it.

I am in the same boat. I was actually taken to hospital because I couldn't breathe one day at work, and my heart was beating out of my chest.
Doctors did all sorts of tests on me and told me that it was a panic attack. Don't get me wrong, I had other things in my life happening around me at the same time, but watching people around me getting the sack and milestones that drag out (or are perpetual), keep you in a state of stress, that is seriously unhealthy. And I worked for a very good company at the time as well, so I can only imagine how shitty things can get with the horror stories you hear. The thing that really pulled me down was the constant feeling that you were screwing everything up all the time, (mostly self inflicted) I am actually very good at what I do, and after leaving the industry for the most part, only now can I see how much I had learned and achieved in such a small period of time, and can appreciate my worth. (6+ years in games).
I am planning on returning to study, and have pretty much finished all my high school trig and calculus, and hope to enjoy the change in direction, possibly maths or engineering (not 100% sure yet).
Art is my life, and might keep it a bit closer to my chest as mostly an enjoyment thing.
Making games is great fun, which is why we are all drawn to it, and I have met some of the coolest people in my life through the industry. I hold no bitterness what so ever, and don't have a bad thing to say about anyone.
I feel allot in common with the above posts, and in my opinion life is about so much more.

I have a similar "story" to tell, in that I started locally and then moved overseas. Peaked early with a studio that had a lot of issues but are one of the big ones today -- however, they still have the same "issues" as they did in the past.

After not being able to maintain the 100+ hours and the pressures of one studio self-created crisis after another. No matter how much I helped it swing back the other way. I put it to the management that they had to change for things to progress and for me to stay. Their answer was to fire me, apparently I was the "problem" not they.

It took a while for me to get back on my feet with me not doing much of anything for a while. I developed anxiety issues from the work environment -- way too much coffee, stress and not enough sleep leading to panic attacks. I also had lost all interest in games, not just game making but playing them. Then, I whilst in Eastern Europe I picked up a second-hand laptop that could run games. I also found a place that sold pirated games for dirt cheap -- actually, it was easier to find pirated games to buy than legal copies.

One game, was Freedom Force. That original title that was developed in Oz renewed my interest and passion for games and game design. It hasn't entirely resuscitated my career, as I my experience means that I find it difficult to be considered for roles or even want to apply for them. But, at least I am motivated enough to make them and attempt my own projects.

Which is good, as I will never work in Web development. I just can't no matter how much aptitude I have for the work, as the work, just does not interest me in the slightest no matter how well it pays ;).

While I feel for this guy, anyone who has worked in games has probably faced similar situations. But at the end of the day the responsibility lies within ourselves. We create our reality and we're 100% responsible for it.

If you don't like where you work either try to make change or quit. Or stop complaining. At the end of the day we're making games, not performing open heart surgery on babies. You miss a milestone by a few days nobody is going to die. your company won't go out of business because of it (and if they do, then its probably not the kind of company you want to work at anyway).

Everyone has options, and while the usual reply is "I need the pay check" and thats your excuse for putting up with the crap, saving money and giving yourself freedom is also your own responsibility.

If you spend all your money and have no savings then you'll forever be at the mercy of work for hire game companies. And the irony is that those companies are doing the same - they have no money saved so they are at the mercy of their publishers. Beginning to see a pattern emerge?

People who leave the industry and complain of the "industry burnt me out" are just as responsible for the state of the industry in the first place, their lack of action (because they're scared of getting fired) in solving the issues or even just speaking up for themselves are the reason that these problems remain.

Speak up, quit or just don't worry about it. The fourth is option is keep quiet with your head full of demonstrative thoughts.

My advice to anyone who wants to break out of work for hire companies is to SAVE, SAVE, SAVE and do everything you can to lower your living expenses.

Once you have enough money to last for a year without a salary, then you're ready to enter the world of indie development or at least take some time off to look for a better company and work on your folio. Or go travelling to meet new companies.

At the very least it gives you better standing to speak up and try to solve the issues at your company. The worst thing that can happen is that you'll get fired (who cares, I have money to live on for a year), the best thing that can happen is that the problems will be fixed making your life better and people will respect you a lot more.

I've just hit the 6 year mark in the industry and i'm the complete opposite of burnt out. I made the jump from Australia to the US and it has renewed my enthusiasm and passion for what I do. I think regardless of one's passion and determination, many times it comes down to luck and good/bad timing. I don't have a family to support nor am I locked down by a mortgage, I couldn't even begin to imagine how I would survive financially if I had both to worry about. So I can completely understand the financial element of burning out and wanting to move to an industry that awards higher salaries.

But as far as game development itself, its luck of the draw really. There's well and badly run companies in Australia and the USA, as there are in any industry. Unfortunately its harder to switch studios in Australia as there's so few of them and they are basically all one big (inbred) family, employees moving back and forth and studio cultures maintained and not allowed to evolve much. In the US you could still land a bad/unstable position, but there's far more opportunity to quickly switch to another one and try your luck again.

In the end its all about your passion. If you lose it then its best for you and your family (if you have one) to move on to something else. But that doesn't mean someone who still retains his passion and works long hours for it is wrong in doing so, nor does it give you the right to condemn their choice.

Being passionate does not prevent you from being made suddenly redundant, regardless of how professional you've been.

I'm just heading into my seventh year in the industry. I was sure that the 'six year burnout' wouldn't apply to me - I don't have familial obligations, or a mortgage, or anything that makes job security and good pay and regular hours an imperative - but now that I'm here... I can understand it all too well.

Though I don't think those are the things that really cause the burn out - they contribute, sure, but it can't be that alone. There have been projects where I haven't minded doing lots of overtime, because I could see the project was going to be really cool and a lot of people would probably play it and it was creatively rewarding. It was tiring, for sure, but I've found drudging away regular hours at projects that are doomed to the bargain bin from the start has been far more to damaging to morale.

In the end, I suspect it's more the stress the OP alluded than anything else. Stress, and sacrifice, and not nearly enough job satisfaction to compensate for it.

I'm thinking of going indie, since that's the trend and it's far more feasible than it was even a few years ago with digital distribution. I'm expecting there will still be stress of a kind, but the job satisfaction should be worth it.

15 years gamedev. Left the industry this year.

Took me literally half an hour in my new job to realise I had lost sight of how seriously f***** things are in Oz gamedev these days (indies excepted, but that won't pay my mortgage).

Good luck to the extremely talented friends and colleagues still stressed and struggling worrying if they will see another project while doing crunch.